Friday, September 01, 2006

As I've indicated in some recent entries, I need to rethink some of my Aimless fund-raising strategies. My approach has not been working so far, and I prefer to learn from mistakes rather than perpetuate them.

In the beginning, the main objective of Aimless was for me to hone my communication skills. If I expected to succeed, I needed to ask individuals and organizations for assistance, explaining effectively how their assistance would benefit them. Well, it's not happening. But you know what? The problem is not my communication skills. The problem is that most American businesses are operated by a bunch of fucking idiots. And if they can't figure out why Aimless is such a smart investment, fuck 'em. I don't care. I can easily do this whole thing myself. Let them come looking for me in a year from now, when the buzz gets going and my sponsorship price skyrockets.

I have offered hundreds of businesses the opportunity to take advantage of me with this project, but only one person has done it: Glenn Shope from Net Acceleration. And Glenn hasn't even asked for anything in return for the free web hosting he's providing me. Well Glenn, you win! You're gonna get a lot more from me than you ever expected because I take care of people who take care of me.

So what's my plan now?

I'm going to go ahead and buy some business cards and start selling candy bars. Once I get started with the candy bar sales, I'm going to find a restaurant to take me up on my Aimless Pizza offer. I'm going to be patient and I'm going to raise the $7,000 I need without asking anyone else for assistance. However, if someone approaches me about becoming a sponsor, I'll listen and I'll make the right decision.

Yeah, I'm all about the money now. Cha-ching. Aimless is now a capitalist venture. I'm still going to give back to the people who end up helping me accomplish my objectives, especially the little people. But I'm not going to give as much to eventual sponsors as I've been willing to give. They had their chance. Glenn took it, so he holds a special status with me.